GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 139, 4 May 1881, Page 2

GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.

♦ THE CAPTAIN AND ALL THE WOMEN AVD CHILDREN DROWNED. » LIST OP PA.SSKNGBRS AND CRF.W. ■ • ii NAMES OF SURVIVORS. 4 The news of the t<*rriUe disaster occurring to thn ye^n'-'l and her freight of buroan souls >vas aot ant:cipated from the teuor of the first newage xeceivcd ami

published on Saturday moruiuij. That message merely said the vessel wan ashore, but "all the passengers saved." The incorrectness of this is accounted for by a messenger being sent off at full speed as sqon as the first man hud come ashore, *nd- wjien^.the hp[>e was strong "that a few pouri '#oiildi aiee them all safely landed. There wai notfiing to in-licatt the terrible disaster th^h inipcn ling. To the harrowing details of the story we can add but little not told iv the narrative of the survivors and of those who have since visited the scene of the wreck. ■ - The following tel egranftb "Mr .-Gar f afflf of this city, from Mr. W. J. Willeock'*, •gent of the New Zealand Shipping! 'omr pany,~at the Bluff, was received on Saturday evening: — "Cook saved, states that the last he saw of Frank (Captain ,GUr r . ratd) was on the forecastle-head, '•■ wfthj the women and children, immediately be-" fore the ship broke up, The chief officer., is saved, but knows nothing. The •>&■£.. kanui picked up the boat with the second mate and some of the crew., I fear the worgt." . , A telegram received at 9 o'clock on Saturday evening by Mr. D. Mills, the local agent, from the telegraphic operator at Wyndham, gaves the names of the survivors. They were Messrs. Lawrence from Lyttelton, Robins, from IDuhedin, Williams and Davis, frtm Wellington, Daly, from Napier, Miss Chittertori, from Auckland, and J. Titler, from port ira'-' known. These were passengers but other two, games unknown, were also tared. The following of the crew were saved :— Robert I indsav, chief officer; Frank Denny, John Wilson, chief cook ; Frank Robey, Tbornas Dixon. We have published the lists as received from various quarters as confirmatory of each other. It may be here mentioned that Mr. J. O. Eva, J.P., one among the lost, was a nephew of the Hon. Mr Olliver, Minister of Public Works, and brother of Mr. Eva of the Telegraph Department. The deceased had been for many years connected «ith the firm of Oliver and Ulph, hardware merchants m Dunedin, and was highly esteemed m commercial and social circles. The steamer Tararua was built at Dundee m 1864. for the old Panama Company, and subsequently when that company dissolved was purchased bj M ssrs, M'Meckan, Blackwood & Go., of Melbourne. She was then, with other steamers belonging to the same firm, purcha«ed by the. Union Steamship Company and was m those dayk a fast boat,' having made some very good passages between the Bluff and MelbouraeJ At this time she was barque-rigged, and there are now to be seen several photographs, of her from a painting by the late Captain Robertson, as she was before being altered. Just before the U.S.S. Company purchased her she was considerably altered, new boilers and compound engines of 150 h.p. were placed m her and htr rig changed to that of a top-sail schooner. The spar-deck was carried from the poop to the bridge, which increased her tonnage considerably. Her saloon accommodation was also enlarged. TheTararua was noted as being a wet boat, and was particularly " lively "m a sea vr&j. She was an iron boat of 8.28 tons gross tonnage. Her dimensions were, length 222 feet, breadth 28 feet, depth 16 f«et. .She was frequently considered an unlucky boat by her various commanders, and many of them had a superstitious belief that she would sooner or later come to an untimely end.